All Is Calm
by hmmille
Summary: Edward and Bella are on the hunt for a special Christmas present, and he certainly doesn't enjoy the shopping experience-or what he has to do when they bring it home-at all. Entry for 's Edward's Nightmare Before Christmas Drabble contest December 2011.


This was written for 's _**Edward's Nightmare Before Christmas Drabble Contest**_ back in December 2011. I found it on my hard drive and thought I'd put it up. The rules were that it must be vampfic and canon, around a 1000 words, set ten years after Eclipse, no killing Edward and Renesmee doesn't exist, and Bella can be human/vamp/whatever. If you're a member of the site and want to read the other entries, here's the link (just replace the real thing) Campfires/14773

Drabble is unbeta'd, but Erikasbuddy did read it and give me the idea to use a line from a Christmas carol as the title.

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"I want _that_ one," Bella whispered, her breath feather light on my ear as she gripped my arm tightly. "I think he'd make a fine addition to the family." Being around so many humans had never been a problem for her. Their blood didn't call to her like it did to the rest of us.

As I glanced across the crowded mall full of holiday shoppers in the direction my wife had pointed, I knew that I didn't have the will to deny her request. After all, he'd only be with us for a year, and that was a mere drop in the bucket. He couldn't be as annoying as the one from seven years ago. Emmett had wanted to kill Randy two months into his newborn year, but we couldn't afford to lose that precious time.

Alice saw Bella's decision and closed in on the neatly dressed man sitting alone in the food court, reading a book as he sipped a steaming cup of black coffee. She sat down in the chair opposite him and turned on the charm, quickly gaining his trust and interest. Before long, the newly acquainted pair left to get a drink, the man's thoughts full of how unbelievably lucky he was to pick up someone so gorgeous—at the shopping mall of all places.

I helped Bella to our car, the cacophony of hundreds of minds buzzing simultaneously inside my head threatening to drive me mad as we pushed through the crowds. Both her mental and physical condition became increasingly dire as the days grew closer to the anniversary of her turning. Tonight was the night to act. Not one of us was willing to risk a repeat of that Christmas Day nine years ago.

It was a twenty minute drive to the isolated home in the country—our safe house—and we followed a few miles behind them, ensuring that he wouldn't grow suspicious. The clinking of glasses and small talk between Alice and her would be suitor filled the air as we passed the time waiting inside of our car in silence, staring up at the stars through the sun roof in the unusually cloudless December sky.

We waited outside of the house for thirty minutes before Alice signaled to me that it was time. Enough liquor had been consumed to dull his senses, and the addition of some Rohypnol guaranteed that he wouldn't know what hit him. This man met all of our requirements, and few people would miss him when he disappeared after tonight.

Bella and I stood side by side on the porch, and I hesitated with my hand hovering over the door knob.

"I love you, Edward," she said, slipping her hand around mine and giving it a gentle squeeze. Soon she wouldn't be capable of much more.

"As I do you, my love. Now go…find Alice."

Bella kissed my cheek, walked down the steps, and disappeared around the corner of the house.

I pushed open the door and ran inside, wanting to get this very necessary dirty deed finished. Quickly finding the semiconscious man on the living room couch, I wrenched his head to the side using a handful of his hair as a handle. "Please forgive me," I whispered before I bit into his neck, injecting as much venom as I could in a feeble effort to staunch the flow of his blood into my mouth.

The man cried out and convulsed, his hand clutching futilely at his wound. I quickly backed away, gasping as the intense burn in my throat flared even higher—absolutely needing to separate myself from the overwhelming scent and taste of his blood. This one had to make it through the transition. It was the only way for Bella to survive another year. I didn't want this—to turn someone else—just to ensure that the life of the woman I loved continued to thrive when I never wanted to take her life to begin with. Especially when it had all gone so horribly wrong on Christmas day ten years ago.

Alice appeared in the living room again and shook my shoulders, forcing me to react to the annual situation that I was trying to ignore right in front of my eyes. I snapped out of it and helped her carry the newest temporary Cullen into a sound proofed room in the basement. The roar of an engine and the crunching of tires on gravel signaled the arrival of last year's inductee, so I locked Alice and the new guy inside the room, engaging the digital locking mechanism on the keypad just outside the door. _I won't lose another sister._

_Don't worry, Edward. We didn't know that Bella had special dietary needs back then. _Alice was always a source of comfort to me, even as she was tending to a man screaming and writhing in agony.

I darted upstairs just in time to greet Bella as she walked in the front door with Megan, a red-headed girl of nineteen who had a proclivity for singing off key to any music she heard—commercials on television, music on the radio, even random tunes she made up in her head. I couldn't say that I'd miss her when she was gone.

"Hi-ya, Edward," Megan greeted me brightly, but her thoughts were full of Christmas carols and the human she'd just gorged on before driving here. If I had to hear another butchered rendition of _Silent Night_, I just might kill her myself.

Bella appeared in the room, holding her hands behind her back. "I have a present for you." My wife giggled nervously, sounding suspiciously on edge and close to insane. "Close your eyes and hold out your hands," she sang. Bella couldn't sing that great either, but by God, it was so much better than Megan.

The one-year-old vampire did as she was told and waited with a large, expectant smile on her face. Her thoughts were full of hope that somehow Emmett could be her present. Such simplemindedness. Megan didn't anticipate the swift blow that ripped her head from her body with a sickening crunch. Bella cast the decapitated skull aside and began to rip the body to pieces in a frenzy, digging to the center of the vampire's body to find the rejuvenating nectar at the center. Only human blood mixed with specific venom—from vampires sired by me—could make her healthy again, at least until next year. And we'd found that out the hard way over the years, through a lot of trial and error.

I turned my back and closed my eyes, but the growling and tearing sounds as Bella dug through Megan's torso to get to the stomach full of fresh venom infused human blood was too much to stand. A final loud crack followed by urgent slurping had me covering my ears, trying to drown out the sounds as I rocked back and forth on my knees.

How had I created this? This was entirely my fault. I couldn't control myself. Bella's blood was so warm, so fragrant, so delicious…just a small sip when I was changing her couldn't hurt, could it? Before I knew it, she was so close to death. I hadn't left enough for the venom to circulate and take over her body. We hadn't planned for this, and desperate times called for desperate measures. Who knew that giving her back her own blood that was already saturated with my venom would be a bad thing? You'd think that it would give her change a head start—an advantage.

The room grew silent. A few seconds passed before I rose to my feet and turned back to my wife. The broken remains of last year's newborn lay scattered around Bella while red stains dripped down her chin onto her pale blue blouse. A satisfied smile slowly crept onto her face and she closed her eyes.

"Better?" I asked, hoping that she was once again, my Bella.

"Yes. Megan was good. And I certainly hope the new guy doesn't sing."


End file.
